rician blast

butch huskey? holy crap you're good. what about Wilton Veras and Bryce "There goes my face' Florie

wonder what he is on.

I'm hoping they bring back Bob Stanley and Calvin Shiraldi to share the closer's role.

For a 3 yr period...1936-1938...the post-Ruth era, Dimaggio and Gehrig were an awesome 1-2 punch (or should I say 3-4). 1936 Gehrig .354 49 HR 152 RBI Dimag .323 29 HR 125 RBI 1937 Gehrig .351 37 159 Dimag .346 46 167 1938 Gehrig .295 29 114 Dimag .324 32 140

Wasn't it Benitez who drilled Tino in the back a few years ago?

all this assuming they have #1 pick I assume?

You have more than one gay friend named Bob? just kidding. actually I kind of agree with the Albany scenario, if you're looking for upsets, that's a decent play, but not sure if they can win 2 games.

My guess is half the fans didn't even realize what had happened and the most of the others were just caught up in the game and physical confrontation. In other words I really don't believe the Islander fans were happy about the incident.

This would be a huge mistake. The violent part of hockey has been engrained in the sport forever and is one of the reasons many people watch. Also, without the occasional fisticuffs I believe you'd see more cheap hits, knee on knee stuff, Kasparaitis-like hip checks aimed at taking out a knee, Ulf Samuelsson-like cheap shots, etc.

No, Bruins. I use the word "hate" loosely of course, as there are Rangers players, past and present, that I would have liked to see in a B's uniform...Hollweig being one of them, to be honst...but I really don't like the Rangers as a team. I've even rooted for Montreal against them, and we know how B's fans fel about the Canadiens, especially if your interest in hockey goes back to the mid/late 70's.

I was watching a clip from ESPN.com regarding the incident. They had Patrick McEnroy commenting on hockey...wtf? He had no clue about the game but was saying Simon should be gone for life to send a message to the players. Another doofus then chimes in that fighting should be outlawed in hockey. LEt hockey guys comment on hockey, for krist sake. Did I mention I hate the Rangers?

Chris Simon with the two-hander to Hollwieg's chest/neck/chin area.... ...Hollweig's about as annoying, cheap and chippy on the ice as they come but even he didn't deserve that. Simon shoulda just beat the s*** outta him. Now there are some calling for a lifetime ban. I'm guessing he's out the rest of this year, maybe the first 10 of next year too. Even still, I hate the fkn Rangers.

does he know who the mother is?

Same here, Crunch, some things are seem too good/easy to pass up, one of them being that the B's will lose to the Habs in the playoffs.

First, it would help if you'd define what you mean by "the other year" since they lost to the Canadiens in both 2002 and 2004. In '02 they were the top seed in the east, in '04 I think they were #2...but if you've watched a lot of hockey you know that come playoff time that doesn't mean s***. Hell, look at how many President's trophy winners that get bounced in the first round. To call those years "chokes" is incorrect, those were teams not built for playoff success, period, and most of the Bruins fans I'm familiar with knew that going into the playoffs both years.

The Bruins were miserable offensively last night. Funny thing is Brian Engblom was saying what a nice group of forwards the B's have...naming Donovan and Mark Mowers. These guys are muckers and while they may be successful role players on a very good team, on the B's they're not. I'm growing a little tired of the Patrice Bergeron talk too. he's good, don't get me wrong. But there are other teams that have 3 or 4 young guys of similar ability (i.e. Atl, Carolina, Buffalo, Nashville). Bruins are a long, long way off, IMO.

yeah those post-season coaching awards are great aren't they? so great that only ONE Jack Adams winner in the last 29 years won the Cup while accomplishing the feat (Tortorella with the Lightning). -Bill Barber won it in 00-01 with the Flyers...when did they last win a cup? -Joel Quenville won it with the Blues the year before...what have they ever done? -Pat Burns won it in the late 90's with our hapless Bruins and the team didn't get out of the first round. -Your own Sabres were represented in 96-97 by none other than Ted Nolan...we can see where that got them in terms of Championships. So hang your hat on the fact that you have the returning Jack Adams award winner, and keep heaping praise on Ruff, and Nolan too, if you like, both who couldn't do a thing with all-world goalie Hasek in the fold (6 Vezinas in 8 years???). IMO, credit for the Sabres success belongs with (1) the NHL which assumed control of the team around 2002 or 2003 as the Sabres onwers went belly-up , and (2) their billionaire owner (Gollisani? something like that) and the front office for putting together an impressive roster. Until Ruff wins something, I'm not sold on him...and believe me I liked the Sabres and felt they could win it despite Ruff's presence behind the bench...although since their display against the Sens I am now strongly rooting against them. How's Drury's head and when is the next time Neil gets to kick Maier's ass?

I will remind everyone again of 2003...the year of the "closer by committee". The closer situation was a bit of a mess throughout the year. BY Kim led the team in saves in the regular season. Next was Brandon Lyon followed by Chad Fox who had a few saves. On July 29 the Sox picked up Scott Williamson from the Reds and used him primarily as a set-up man...but he was so good that they ended up having him close in the playoffs. In The Divisional series he was 2-0 without giving up an earned run. In the ALCS he had 3 saves, a 3.00 era, 6 k's in 3 innings of work. Despite the analysts claims that the Sox had no BPand thus no chance, the Red Sox had continued auditioning for the closers job throughout the year and went with the hottest hands in the roles of closer and set-up guys (left-righty were Embree and Timlin, respectively) at playoff time. All these guys did was provide some of the strongest relief pitching we've ever seen. And only Grady Little's decision, in my own strong opinion, to have Pedro start the 8th inning of game 7, stood between the Red Sox and a trip to the World Series. While its not ideal to go into the season without a set closer, I wouldn't get overly concerned at this juncture. If 2003 proved anything, it was that specialty roles can be filled effectively during the course of the season. Would I prefer to have a Mariano Riviera in the pen right now? Absolutely...but it is what it is and we'll see where this thing goes, who steps up and/or how much it costs the Sox to rectify the issue if no one does step up.

hah! nice ORS.

SRO: How today ar youdoing on nice such day winter with air in the baseball?

Oh. I thought you created this thread to showcase your spelling and grammatical skills.

Good luck winning it all with Lindy Ruff at the helm. He's the same as a coach as he was as player...full of grit, lacking on ability and makes emotional decisions that eventually cost him.

Detroit is still relatively strong. Colorado is a shell of what they once were. They astill have Sakic but their next two leading scorers are Andrew Brunette and Paul Stastny...right, who? Oh, and Joel Quenville is their Head Coach. Former Whaler player and Blues coach. What has he ever won?

Problem with San Jose....Joe Thornton tends to dissapear come playoff time. 8-19-27 with a -14 in 46 career playoff games? More than the #'s, I've seen him fold like a card table and either play like a pu$$y or take stupid penalties out of frustration. I agree the Guerin deal was good for them, though, so you never know...maybe they have enough guns now that Thornton doesn't have to carry them, because if he does I have a hunch he won't. Prediction? Not sure yet, Nashville, Jersey and Detroit have what I think is the best goaltending right now, Jersey lacks scoring punch, Detroit is deep but lacks that huge offensive player, Nashville is balanced...its wide open as you could throw Anaheim and Buffalo into the mix too. I'm rooting against Buffalo the rest of the year after Ruff's pitiful display vs. Ottawa. Did they go hard after Neil? No, they went after non-fighters. Drury got caught with a legal check because he was admiring his pass, then Neil kicked the retaliators ass and then kicked Maier's ass a few days later. Fuk Buffalo.